The Saving Interlude
by FiveForFighting09
Summary: Somewhere between the beginning and the end of this story, Tony knew something had happen. He hadn't hurt his head that day in the woods. Tony's story is far from over. He still has more to tell. Fifth in the Rhapsody!Verse.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Oh my goodness gracious. Has it really been almost four months since I last posted the last Chapter of "_The Unknown Song_?" For this, I am truly sorry. I had originally sent this out to my beta a month or so ago but she never got back to me. :( Beta, if you are out there, I hope all is well. :)**

**This is of course part of the Rhapsody!Verse. We're still in Tony's POV here, and this story jumps around again but is much more linear than the last story because well, I think Tony's brain is settling down a bit. It also takes place awhile after Tony and Pete move down to Paris, Texas, a town that I have heard of but have never actually seen. So I'm playing with population and such. It's fiction peeps. lol**

**Once again, thanks to all those who read and review and for those of you who are waiting for the next chapter in "Might Have Been", RL has been rough. I'm trying my hardest to get it out as soon as I can figure out how exactly I need the next scene to go. lol.**

Disclaimer: I do not own nor am I making any profit from NCIS or CBS. Unless of course, personally happiness counts as a reward?

Enjoy the story.

* * *

Chapter One

_**Saving: to rescue, preserve, or guard from danger or harm; to redeem.**_

_**Interlude: a short piece that is often provided to cover a change of scene or to move dramatically from one mood or atmosphere to another.

* * *

**_

_Somewhere between the beginning and the end of this story, Tony knew something had happen._

_He hadn't hurt his head that day in the woods, at least, he doesn't remember being hurt._

_But he had scars on other parts of his body from _before_, and Tony wondered if maybe that's why he is where he is._

_Because _here_ is the middle of a ranch, two hours from a town called Paris, somewhere in northeast Texas._

Here_ is a large house with beautiful landscape and _here_ is seven horses, Pete, Pete's brother TJ and his wife Lisa, the ranch hands, Lee, himself, and more cows than Tony can count._

Here_ is somewhere far from any place Tony's ever been but then, Tony isn't really Tony anymore._

_Tony is Deuce, a man that no longer wants to be what Tony represents._

_Tony is a man who rages from being depressed to angry to sullen and Tony is a man that Deuce no longer wants to be._

_Deuce is a six foot two man with dark blond hair, or light brown hair, he can never really tell, who has green eyes and who fell off a horse about seven times before he learned how to stay on._

_Deuce is a man who hasn't known who he's been for a little over two years now._

_Deuce is a man who will no longer wear a belt with a knife in the buckle or put a Navy coin in the front pocket of his jeans._

_Those things are in a box, tucked away._

_Just like Tony. Because Deuce does not have a before, or an after._

_Deuce just has a now.

* * *

_

Deuce sniffed the air, wondering if it was indeed going to rain. He loved the rain, at least, in the summer. The house he lived in was near TJ and Lisa's house and had a large overhanging porch and when it rained, Deuce loved to go out and just listen as the rain pelted the roof.

Deuce wondered why he sometimes got a bone chilling feeling when he watched the rain. Something terrible had happen in the rain.

He didn't dwell on the thought long though. He couldn't spend his whole life wondering about _before_. Especially when _now_ was finally starting to look up.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Deuce looked at the beautiful woman in front of him and helped her into the car.

It was time for his date.

And Deuce planned to enjoy every moment of it.

* * *

_Deuce still didn't particularly like large crowds. His days of fighting were probably the closet he ever got to being in a crowd and even now, he rarely went into town with Pete. _

_TJ and his wife Lisa were nice and Deuce learned that even though TJ and Pete were twins, TJ smiled a lot more with his mouth while Pete smiled more with his eyes._

_TJ had been ecstatic that Pete had finally made his way on back to the ranch- back to _home_._

_Pete, Deuce found out, was a bit of a roamer and never stayed in one place to long after he got back from 'Nam._

_Deuce wondered how that must feel, to wander around like Pete did._

_Sure, one could say Deuce had done the same thing, but he knew it was different._

_Deuce had moved, looking for something and running away at the same time, but unlike Pete, he had never had a home he could return to._

_Until now.

* * *

_

Deuce watched as the cattle moved through the gate to the east field.

Pete, who was a natural on a horse, was on his own horse guiding the back of the herd.

Lee, who had taken kindly to ranch life, was sitting by Deuce's buckskin quarter horse panting in the Texas heat.

"Hey Deuce," Pete yelled wiping his brow with his shirt, "Grab the gate, will you?"

Deuce nodded, hopping off his horse before heading on over to the gate.

Jumping back on his gelding, Tony nudged his flanks gently with his heels to get him moving back towards the barn.

"Where's Brooke?" Pete asked awhile later, while he and Deuce cooled off and cleaned their horses in the paddock adjacent to the barn, "TJ said she was meeting with the social worker again?"

Deuce nodded as he checked on Lee's whereabouts before putting his mare into her stall, "Yep. As if it wasn't crazy enough around here."

Pete chuckled at that, before telling Deuce he would catch him inside.

Whistling as he went, Deuce walked up the steps to the house and hurried to the kitchen, hoping the leftovers from a few nights ago were still good.

Finding half a burger and a coke, Deuce grabbed them before heading towards his room. He needed to shower and get ready for tonight.

Opening his drawer to collect a fresh change of clothes, Deuce smiled when he saw the small black box sitting next to his socks.

He had been dating Brooke for almost a year now.

And he was going to ask her to marry him.

Tonight.

* * *

_Deuce still didn't like being around adults. _

_Being in a small town, Deuce found it much harder to hide and go unnoticed like he had in the cities he had stayed in._

_Even though he lived outside of the town's limits, he still found that everyone knew about him._

_And that alone made the hair on the back of Deuce's neck tingle._

_But when they went into town, and Deuce didn't go all that often, Deuce found that as corny as it sounded, holding Brooke's hand made him feel less like a fish in a glass bowl._

_Holding her hand made him feel human- something Deuce had craved for a very long time.

* * *

_

"Tony Hudson," Deuce introduced himself to the principal at the school that Brooke worked at. Brooke had asked him at least to come.

And because Deuce loved her and because Brooke had given him more than just a last name, he agreed.

"So, have you ever done anything like this before?" the principal, an old guy in his sixties asked as he and Deuce walked down the hall of the high school.

"No," Deuce shook his head. It would be pointless to explain to Mr. Harris that he didn't remember if he had or hadn't, "But I can learn."

Mr. Harris laughed at that, "I'm glad."

Deuce shuffled on his feet. Deuce had only met Mr. Harris twice before and even then the man had always been jovial.

"So when can you start?"

"When I can I-uh what?" Deuce fumbled with his words. Brooke had asked him to come. Never did he think he would actually…

"Basketball season starts in a few weeks," Mr. Harris continued to walk down the hall comically ignoring Deuce's shock, "Will that give you enough time to learn and prepare?"

Deuce simply nodded and shook Mr. Harris' hand, his mouth slightly ajar.

"Alright then," Mr. Harris smiled, "Just come in at the end of the week and I'll help you get set up."

"Mr. Harris, I don't-" Deuce tried to…_do_ something. Though he didn't know if he wanted to stop it or…Deuce really didn't know what he wanted to do.

"Call me Phil, Mr. Hudson," Phil smiled before continuing Deuce's impromptu tour of Paris High School's athletic department.

Not know what else to do, Deuce hurried and followed

* * *

**A/N2: Next chapter will hopefully be up tomorrow but if not, it will be up after I have watched the season premier of the new season of NCIS! :D  
**

**As always, reviews are welcomed. :)  
**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: So who saw the NCIS premiere? I think it was awesome. Once again, thanks to all you guys out there who are reading, reviewing, alerting, etc. :) As promised, I posted this right after watching the premiere! I live in the west so sorry east coasters!

* * *

**

Chapter Two

_Deuce found that no matter what he did, he never truly relaxed. _

_When he was in the house he always felt like he was being watched. Lee, who was the epitome of relaxed, would usually look up at him with his big brown eyes and silently tell him to "Chill dude."_

_Or at least that's what Deuce thought._

_But Deuce tried not to focus on that. He tried, as often as he could, to take a few deep breaths and when the weather permitted, Deuce tried to go for a ride on Tray, who had been a crazy two year old when Deuce had come to Texas._

_He was still crazy, the horse anyway, but he still reminded Deuce of John Dunbar's horse in _Dances with Wolves.

_Brooke had given him the movie after he had moved into the house. _

_And when Deuce had taken her on their first date, he had ended the night with that movie._

* * *

"I got the job," Deuce walked in and set the keys gingerly in the kitchen bowl as if the sound they would make might break his words.

"What?" Brooke asked, her curly hair askew and plastered to her head. The air was broken and Brooke had taken it upon herself to fix it even though the Indian Summer would soon be over and Deuce would shut down the A/C and turn on the heater, "Really?"

"I think so," Deuce rubbed his head and used his shirt sleeve to whip the sweat off his face, "I-I don't um…I'm not entirely sure."

Lifting an eyebrow, Brooke walked around the counter, "Well, did he say something along the lines of "You start this month" or "Get out of my school?" I mean, really Deuce, I know you're dense but you do have somethin' between those two ears of yours," Brooke trailed off good-naturedly and gave her husband and hug, "Well?"

"The first one," Deuce whispered into her hair, kissing it softly and sighing contently as he wrapped his arms around her.

"Well," Brooke finally pulled away, stretching to her tip-toes to kiss Deuce on the lips, "I talked to the social worker."

"I'm not talking to another psychiatrist," Deuce mumbled as Brooke kissed him on the lips, "And I will not be bribed with a kiss."

"No, no," Brooke shook her head, "She said you're clear."

"I'm," Deuce pulled back sharply, "What?"

"You're clear," Brooke smiled and grabbed Deuce's hand to twirl around him. She giggled like a schoolgirl when Deuce followed her moves perfectly, "I always knew you could dance."

"No segways," Deuce said, a bit shocked that he sorta coulda dance, "Are you…serious?"

"As a heart attack," Brooke laughed, "Now, we really need to fix this air conditioner."

* * *

_Deuce sometimes felt that ever since he met Brooke, his world had turned into hurricane._

_But unlike the tornado that had been his life before, Deuce found that to be with Brooke wasn't to be inside the storm._

_To be with Brooke meant to be in the eye of the storm, watching safely as the rest of the world moved around him._

_Deuce didn't know much, had forgotten much more, but he knew he loved her._

_Knew that as much as one could know anything anyway.

* * *

_

"Mr. Hudson," a very twitching sort of a man extended his hand, "My name is Mr. Field, I um…Mr. Harris…that is, Phil-"

"Are you my assistant?" Deuce took a small step back, not able to completely ignore his instinct to be weary of strangers in general.

"Well, Phil-I mean," the man almost dropped all his papers, "Yes."

"You have a first name?" Deuce asked. Because names were important. They might not have always been to Deuce but they were now. At least now that he had one of his own.

"John," the man stuttered out.

The man before him had a kid face. While he was probably much older, his nervousness and clean shaven face reminded Deuce of someone else who hadn't been able to talk without stuttering.

But Deuce let the memory go, knowing it would do no good to dwell on the blurry image of a man who had felt like a close friend. Because even if he tried to hold onto to it, the façade would slip away no matter how hard Deuce fought.

And Deuce wasn't in the business of fighting anymore.

"Tony Hudson," Deuce extended his hand, "But people call me Deuce."

"Ah, Mr. Hudson-"

"Deuce is fine," Deuce finally shook the man's hand.

"Deuce," John smiled anxiously, "I'm John Fields."

"I know."

Realizing he had repeated himself, John chuckled nervously before promptly dropping everything he was carrying.

"Whoops," John said looking at Deuce apologetically before bending down to gather his things.

Looking at the man before him, Deuce knew that they would get along just fine.

* * *

_Deuce still dreamed. _

_Though he found if he worked hard enough during the day the dreams didn't come as often or, if Deuce was lucky, the dreams didn't come at all._

_It wasn't that Deuce hated the dreams._

_Deuce hated more of what they represented._

_They represented those first few months. The first few months that Deuce could clearly remember._

_He had been so angry and depressed and apathetic, all rolled up into one big person who had been lost._

_He had been so dead back then that to dream of that time of _before_ scared Deuce terribly._

_He couldn't go back, not now. He had just found a family, a place to sleep and work and not worry about demons coming back to haunt him._

_He had just found home._

_And he wasn't about to give it up._

* * *

The basketball team consisted of twenty players. Since Paris didn't have the funds, there was no JV team.

There was one Varsity team. With twenty players.

Deuce looked at the boys in front of him and didn't think about the next words out of his mouth.

"On the end line," Deuce lifted his whistle to his mouth but didn't blow it, "Suicides."

Blowing the whistle, Deuce took a small step back and watched the boys start the running something that Deuce himself couldn't remember entirely what it was exactly.

Maybe he could actually do this job.

Because apparently, he had done it before.

* * *

_Before they had married, the first thing that Brooke had made Deuce do was meet with a social worker._

_The social worker had then referred him to a psychologist who referred him to the another psychologist who in turn referred him to a social worker when all the checking and talking and digging was done._

"_This happens more often than you think," the social worker said when she received his results, "But since you aren't listed as missing, we'll have to run your blood through one more site then we can start on the paperwork."_

_Deuce had chosen Tony as a first name and had left the last name blank until he married Brooke._

_Because as far Deuce saw it, a made up name wasn't as important as his family's name._

_And Tony liked the last name Hudson anyway._

* * *

"So," Brooke said one night when she and Deuce were out in the fields, under a blanket and looking at the stars, "The social worker called again."

"Which one?" Deuce asked, holding Brooke close and feeling Lee adjust so that he was lying squished in-between both of them.

"Not yours," Brooke answered.

Feeling his heart fly into his chest and not knowing entirely why, Deuce squeezed Brooke tighter, "And?"

"Next week," Brooke smiled and kissed Deuce on the check, "We're going to have to go shopping."

* * *

**A/N2: How was that? Next chapter will more than likely be up after I get the next chapter of **_**Might Have Been up**_** (I'm shooting for this weekend). Until then, reviews are always welcomed. **


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: Thanks for the reviews and all the other alert things I get from you guys. It really is appreciated and I wish I had the time to thank each and everyone one of you. So I'll just take a quote from Abby: "I'm hugging you all, in my mind." :) Here's the next chapter. And who besides me laughed out loud at the previews for next week's episode? Ah Tony. lol**

* * *

Chapter Three

The first three came on a Friday morning.

It had just started to snow and Deuce had spent the first part of the day helping Pete and the other ranch hands handle TJ and Lisa's cattle on the neighboring property.

TJ was almost done with his treatments and soon, Lisa would call with the news of whether or not TJ was in remission.

If he was, he would come home. And if he wasn't, well, he would come home nonetheless.

Deuce had been putting Trey away in the paddock he had built when the car pulled up.

Brooke hadn't been home. She had left early that morning for last minute things but Deuce silently calculated that she too would be home any minute.

"Hello Mr. Hudson," the social worker greeted, already looking tired even though the day was still young, "Is your wife home?"

"She's coming down the drive right now," Deuce saw the cloud of dust that Brooke's Jeep created.

Not knowing what else to say to the lady, Deuce used his height to look behind the petite woman.

There were three in the car.

Heaven help them.

* * *

_When Deuce had married Brooke, she had already started the process of becoming a foster parent._

"_A ranch is a good place to raise children," she had told Deuce later that night when Deuce had heard part of a phone call, "And not all of Paris is a nice town."_

_Deuce had nodded and agreed but it wasn't until they were serious about spending the rest of their lives together that Deuce had agreed to go see what he had to do to become a foster parent too._

_It had taken months of paperwork, meetings and waiting. Brooke and Deuce had been married for almost a whole year by the time they were cleared._

_The day that those first three boys entered their lives, Deuce had almost run for the hills._

_Because looking at their faces and seeing himself in their eyes had almost broken Deuce completely._

* * *

The house, which had long ago been TJ and Pete's parent's house, was big. TJ had given it to Pete and Deuce to use when they arrived in town and when Deuce had married Brooke, Pete had, without any fuse, moved into TJ and Lisa's empty house about seven miles down the road across the east pasture.

But the house, Deuce composed his thoughts, was big.

Pete and TJ had been the babies of a family of twelve.

Deuce had originally balked at the idea of living in such a big house but Brooke at simply laughed at him and kissed him on the check.

They would fill it, Brooke had assured him, even if Brooke never became pregnant. Something was wrong with her ovaries, she told Deuce when they were still dating. The doctors didn't think she would ever become pregnant.

Thus, Brooke had wanted to become a foster parent. Just because she couldn't have kids didn't mean there weren't kids out there that didn't need someone.

Nathaniel, Maxwell and Jacob Hill.

Ages sixteen, eleven and two.

Deuce would never forget the first three.

Partly because Nathaniel, or Nate as everyone called him, had already been as wide a truck and had been Tony's height when he had moved in and had grown four more inches before stopping.

But also because one year later, all three would become Hudson's.

_

* * *

The first day had been filled with paperwork and introductions and since it was a weekend, Deuce had to leave around noon to go help Pete out with the horses._

_The first night, Deuce stayed up all night, pacing the room._

_The oldest had been challenging, the middle child had been subdued and the youngest had cried._

_Nathaniel had taken a liking to Lee instantly and Deuce was thankful that Lee still had that same quality that had somewhat tamed the storm in him._

_The next morning, Deuce had woken up early and, taking a page out of Pete's book, had simple woken Nathaniel up and dragged him along on a ranch hand's horse, a gentle gelding named Parker, who was big enough to accommodate Nathaniel's size._

_After three hours of riding and being yelled at by Pete, Nathaniel had promptly crawled back in his bed._

_Max, who had the reddest hair out of all three of his brothers, stayed glued to Brooke's side all day and wouldn't even look at Deuce, even shied away from him when Deuce got to close._

_Jake, who was still unsteady on his feet at two, stayed attached to Lee, who allowed the young tot to grab fistfuls of his fur and basically climb all over him._

_The second night, Deuce still didn't get any sleep._

_But he took quiet satisfaction that at least this night, all three of the Hill brothers did._

* * *

Pete watched Deuce openly as they ate dinner together in Deuce's home. Brooke and the three boys were currently shopping for school clothes. Nate and Max would start school on Monday. Little Jake would hang out with Brooke at home.

"Deuce," Pete said, setting his fork down, "You alright?"

Deuce lifted his head, a bit shocked with Pete's comment. Pete had always taken the tough love approach with him.

"I," Deuce tried to answer but didn't know how, "What?"

Pete, realizing what he said, chuckled a bit, "You heard me kid. Don't be a smart ass."

"I'm," Deuce shrugged, "You know."

"Better then?" Pete smiled, a genuine one.

Before Deuce could respond Brooke and the two boys came through the door.

"Jake's still sleeping," Deuce said, seeing the question on Brooke and Nate's lips. No matter how obnoxious Nate could be, he watched out for his younger siblings with a fervor that made Deuce…proud.

"Alright," Brooke gently let go of Max's hand, "Come on honey. Let's go put this in your room huh? Then we can get your outfit for tomorrow all ready…"

Brooke and Max disappeared up the stairs. Jake was sleeping on the floor in the living room, having fallen asleep watching _The Lion King._

"What's up kid?" Pete asked Nate, who was currently shifting silently on his feet.

Nate, who regarded Pete with a cautious eye, shrugged.

"Mr. Hudson?" Nate asked, "You um, for school," Nate rolled his shoulders and bit his lip before shaking his head angrily, "Can I play basketball on your team?"

Not expecting that question at all, Deuce stood, "Nate-"

"I know it's late in the season," Nate put his hands up as if to protect himself, even though he had to look down at Deuce. Deuce didn't even want to know what could happen to make this kid scared for asking a simple question, "But I never get to play and I don't know how long we'll be here or if we'll stay together. But-"

"Hey," Deuce smiled, knowing what to do, "you are welcomed to join."

Nate went to keep arguing, but when he processed what Deuce said his mouth was stuck in a silent "O".

"Really?"

"Yes," Deuce nodded, "Now go get ready for school."

_

* * *

Deuce found, that if he tried hard enough, he could forget his past. _

_He also found that it always had a way of catching up with him._

_But sometimes, it wasn't always a bad thing._

_Somewhere, or sometime, in _before_ Deuce had played basketball. Deuce had also learned the basic anatomy of the human body._

_So when one of his players tore a ligament on his right knee during their ninth game of the season, Deuce knew that the kid, whose name was Donavan, would probably not play until next year._

Before_ wasn't always a bad thing. His muscles always remembered more from _before_ than he did- he could play the piano, he could dance, and when Nate asked, he could throw a football around._

_But _before_ always brought dreams too._

_And most of the time, they were nightmares.

* * *

_

**A/N2: As always reviews are very much appreciated. :) Next chapter will be up next week.**_  
_


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter Four

_Kids, Deuce discovered, were a lot less assuming that adults. _

_In town, Deuce felt like everyone judged him from where he had come from._

_In the gym, Deuce knew that the kids looked to him to win a basketball game._

_It was the craziest thing really, to win a basketball game._

_The first time it had happen, Deuce had been caught completely off guard._

_Deuce's team played another Paris High School team, two homeschool teams, and ten teams from surrounding towns._

_They had been losing by seven points when Deuce, listening to the stuttering advice from John (or Stats as the team called him) had subbed in Nate who was still learning the game._

_Two minutes later, Deuce sat on the edge of the bench, watching as his team jumped and hollered as if they had just won a game in the Final Four._

_Winning was a crazy thing._

_Deuce liked the feeling.

* * *

_

Max watched as Deuce fixed the saddle on Trey.

"Come here Max," Deuce smiled, indicating from Max to step on the wooden box, "This is Trey. I know he's big but once you get up there, it won't seem bad. And I'll be up there too."

Max took a tentative step forward, "Promise?"

Deuce smiled, "Yes."

Max hurried towards the wooden box and Deuce stepped into the stirrups and leaned over to lift Max up and onto the special double seated saddle that Brooke had used when she had been a young girl.

"Hold on, okay?" Deuce spoke quietly, as if talking to a spooked horse. Max still didn't interact well with other male figures. It had been Brooke's idea for Max to go on a riding day with Deuce. Even though it was mid-January, the day was pretty warm at 68 degrees Fahrenheit.

The perfect day for a horse ride in the winter.

"Is the horse cold?" Max asked as he held onto Deuce's belt.

"Trey?" Deuce smiled and patted the horse's neck affectionately, "Nope. He's got a nice winter coat. It keeps him warm. And since he's moving around, he's nice and toasty."

Max nodded and looked around the pasture. Deuce followed Max's gaze. The cows were on the other side of TJ's house and thus, not visible over here. But they were a horse ride that way and based on what Nate had told him, he and his brothers had never been on any type of ranch before.

"You want to see some cows Max?" Deuce asked.

"Yes please," came the quiet reply. Max was always quiet, always polite.

"Then let's go," Deuce kicked Trey gently with his heels. His horse never needed much encouragement to move.

_

* * *

Deuce would go, once every month, up into the attic and take out the wooden box he had placed up there._

_He would wipe any dust or dirt that had fallen on it before carefully undoing the locks._

_He would then walk to the attic window, and sit on the chair he had placed there. _

_He would spend a good ten to twenty minutes, it never really mattered, and he would just look out into the pasture and listen for his family. _

_Brooke might be cooking a meal, and Pete was usually talking rather loudly to the TV because even though the man didn't live in their house, he was still around all the time. _

_Nate would be outside sometimes with Lee playing, and Max would be there with him, watching his brother with his arms around his knees and his chin resting on the top._

_Jake might be crying, or laughing, or singing a song in the way that little kids do._

_And Deuce would watch and listen and smile._

_Then ever so gently, he would open the box and look at the knife and the coin._

_He would say a silent thank you and sorry and goodbye to whoever had been from _before_._

_Because once a month Deuce let himself realize that maybe, someone was out there missing him._

_And once a month Deuce would think of them and hope that that would be enough._

* * *

Deuce watched as his team played their last game of his first season coaching.

They had finished 9-6. Not wonderful, by any standards, but they had finished with a winning season, something that Deuce was incredibly proud of.

So as the final seconds ticked away of the final game, Deuce sat on the coach's bench and watched, thankful that John, his ever present, and ever nervous, coaching assistant, watched also.

They watched all their seniors play the last few minutes of high school basketball, and Deuce had to hold back tears to realize he would never coach these players, the seniors, again.

By the looks of it, Deuce guessed, they were probably going to lose the last game. Horribly.

But Deuce watched as the five players on the court worked their hardest to score and when the final buzzard rang, Deuce walked forward and congratulated each one of them.

They were smiling, despite their loss, and Deuce figured that was alright.

Sometimes, losing was alright too.

_

* * *

Kids, Deuce discovered, were a lot easier to understand than adults._

_Deuce had a hard time meeting new adults, mainly because almost every adult seemed to already know more about him than Deuce knew about himself._

_Kids on the other hand, didn't start judging you till they met you._

_Deuce didn't remember if he had ever been around kids or if he had ever known how to treat them. _

_But after he got over that fact, he figured that they would want to be treated like Deuce had wanted to be treated when he had first met Pete._

_So he gave them a warm bed, food for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and a quiet place to sit and someone who could listen without judging._

_It was simple really, to give foster kids this, but at the same time it was so incredibly complicated._

* * *

"Pops," Nate ran through the screen door, practically plowing Deuce over, "Can I take the truck to town?"

Deuce regarded his son, because he was in all manners but legally, with caution, "Why do you want the truck?"

"Theresthisparty," Nate said as fast as he could, as if by not understanding him, Deuce would tell him yes.

"You're a sophomore," Deuce laughed, "I didn't think you'd be invited to any graduation parties."

"It's Jerry's party," Nate said, "And come one pops, I finished my chores and even helped Brooke with the clothes for the new kids coming."

"Alright," Deuce fished the keys out of his pocket but pulled them back to say one last piece of advice before handing them over, "And if you aren't back by midnight-"

"Pete will come and get me," Nate smiled at the real threat, "Come on Pops, I promise."

"Alright then," Tony handed the keys to the six foot five boy, "Don't forget you have to help Pete tomorrow."

"Yes sir!" Nate hurried out of the house, giving a kiss goodbye to Brooke who happened to walk by him.

"Food run?" Brooke asked, her eyebrows lifting. That boy could just eat and eat…

"Party," Deuce answered, "He knows his curfew and the consequences."

"I bet Uncle Pete would enjoy tracking him down," Brooke gave Deuce a small kiss, "Now come on. Ms. Strand says that she has two girls coming tomorrow. Girls!"

Deuce lifted the basket of clean linens and followed his wife down the hall.

* * *

**A/N: Thanks to all those who are still reading and reviewing and alerting. :) Hope you liked this chapter. I finished writing the next one already (I know O.O) lol So it should be up Sunday or Monday. **

**As always reviews are very much welcomed.  
**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: The next chapter: Finally. Sorry its been taking longer than I would have hoped. But the semester is almost over (one last push for finals and term papers) and break will be here. Thanks to all who review and to all who read. I'm glad you are liking Tony's tale so far. **

* * *

Chapter Five

It happened on a Monday.

Deuce was in town for once, with Brooke and the kids.

Since the Hill brothers first came into their lives, they had had about twenty children move through their house. Some stayed a few days, some stayed a month or so.

The Hill brothers though, had just gone up for adoption after two years in foster care.

A few days after they received the call from the social worker, Brooke and Deuce sat the boys down in their own kitchen and explained that their mother had finally signed away parental rights in prison (their father had been dead for a year and a half and thus wasn't mentioned).

While Nate had called Deuce Pops, he had never called Brooke anything other than Brooke or Ms. Hudson.

Max on the other hand, had been calling Brooke "Mom" for a few months already.

Jake being too young to even remember the day social services took him and his brothers away from his parents, had called Deuce "Daddy" and Brooke "Momma" about a month after the three boys arrived at their house.

"So she just signed us away?" Nate stood, causing everyone to lean back to keep eye contact with the large boy, "Just like that?"

"Nate," Brooke tried to lay a hand on Nate's arm.

"NO!" Nate snarled but Deuce knew he would never hit Brooke. Not after what his real father had done to their mother.

"Nate," Deuce stood and steered Nate out to the barn.

"No Pops," Nate fumed, "She can't-How could she just get rid of us like we don't even exist?"

Nate's deep voice cracked as he worked hard to not cry, "How could she do that?"

Deuce didn't have an answer for Nate then, other than, "It's alright. We want you. We'll always want you. We'll never get rid of you."

The words were the right ones to say because Nate hadn't cried, openly anyway, but the small trickle of water falling from his face had made him feel better and quenched the fire of his hurt soul.

That had been a week ago.

Now, they were in town to celebrate the boys' adoption.

Jake was throwing his food on the floor, Max was actually smiling and laughing, and Nate looked happy.

And right around then, Deuce leaned over to give Brooke a kiss.

But pulled up short when a familiar man walked past the diner window.

* * *

_Deuce should have known that his past would haunt him in more ways than just his dreams._

_Deuce remembered, oddly enough, about a phenomenon called shadow people._

_A flash of a person that you see from the corner of your eye._

_A ghost or a monster or something that follows you wherever you go._

_If Deuce believed in ghosts, he would be less afraid of what he had seen._

_Because human beings, Deuce had discovered, were a lot scarier than a monster or ghost could ever be._

* * *

"Shit," Pete mumbled around his chewing tobacco.

"I saw him out of the corner of my eye," Deuce shied away from Pete's ire, even if the man wasn't directing the anger towards him, "It could be seeing things."

"You were at the Carter Diner you say?" Pete said, turning onto the highway towards Dallas.

After complications after complication, TJ was finally being released from the hospital, in full remission.

Pete and Deuce were making the five hour drive to go pick up Lisa and TJ from the apartment they had rented for the duration of TJ's illness.

Brooke, who was with Jake and Max, both of whom had woken up sick, had stayed home to wait for Nate to come home from school and for Deuce and Pete to return with her mother and father.

"What do I do?" Deuce said, looking at the Texas landscape as it flew across the window.

"WE'LL," Pete emphasized that word, "Think of something."

"Pete, if it's-"

"Kid," Pete said right before he slapped Deuce across the head, "Shut up. I'll take care of it."

_

* * *

Because monsters, in all the movies Deuce ever remembered seeing, had one thing in common. _

_They were predictable. They would kill you, first chance they got, and they didn't really care about the finesse of the kill or whether or not you suffered._

_Even ghosts for that matter, just scared you till you ran far far away._

_But humans…humans could be cruel in a way that make-believe things could never hope to be._

_Monsters were evil._

_Human beings on the other hand, could be gray. _

_And to be stuck in the middle like that was a lot worse than to be completely in the dark._

* * *

"TJ," Deuce spoke quietly, never sure how to act around Pete's twin brother. Where Pete was loud and brash and in your face, TJ was quiet and almost shy, nothing like his daughter, Brooke.

"Hey Deuce," TJ smiled. The man was frail but his skin looked healthy and his eyes shown with the knowledge that he had dodge a bullet, "How's my grandkids and my daughter?"

"Doing well TJ," Deuce ducked his head respectively. He could never make eye contact with TJ gaze. It was almost as if TJ knew more about him than Deuce himself remembered.

"How's the basketball team? And did I hear right from Phil that you signed up to help with football?" TJ turned around, "And I'm sure Lisa will be just a moment."

"No problem," Pete smiled at his twin, "Glad you're coming home Tony James."

TJ smiled, "You haven't called me Tony James since Brooke was a little girl."

Pete shrugged, "I didn't come all this way just to cry my eyes out so don't you go makin' this into some girly moment TJ. Now hurry up. Brooke and the kids are waitin' for us."

TJ smiled at Pete, "I'm going, I'm going. Cut the old man a break Petey."

Pete frowned at the nickname, "Just cause you're seven minutes older than me doesn't give you the right to use that excuse brother."

TJ smiled knowingly before slowly getting into Pete's truck.

"Deuce," TJ gently placed his hand on Deuce's shoulder, "Now, you were telling me about that football team of yours…"

_

* * *

If Deuce would have known what would have happened that Tuesday, he would have stayed home._

_But later, when all was said and done and Deuce was laying there bleeding, the only thing he could think of was that he was so glad Brooke and the kids hadn't been with him._

_Because if they had, if they had been there when he had been hit, Deuce would have never forgiven himself._


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: I sincerely apologize for not having this up sooner. My only reason for this is I thought I had already posted this last chapter. **

**Thanks so much to everyone who has enjoyed the series. Look for the next and final story in this series. Should be up within the month.  
**

_

* * *

The first thing Deuce thought about when he came too was that everything hurt. _

_The second thing Deuce thought about was if it was at all normal for the ground to be so red._

_Then came the screaming and the crying and the god awful screeching._

_Then there was the dreadful smell of something burning._

_When Deuce had smelt it, it reminded him of an explosion and family and someone going BOOM._

_But after that it wasn't so bad. _

_After that was quiet and silence and there Deuce found that nothing really hurt at all._

* * *

Somewhere in the distance, Deuce heard the incessant beep.

It was annoying and comforting at the same time.

Annoying because all Deuce wanted to do was sleep.

Comforting because Deuce knew that as long as he heard the beeping, then he was alive.

And for the moment, that was enough for Deuce.

* * *

_Deuce and Lee had been on their way to football practice. _

_TJ and Lisa had been home for a few months and the kids had enjoyed having their Poppy and Mima, as little Jake had so dubbed them, home._

_Pete hadn't been with them that day because if he had, Deuce was pretty sure he would be dead._

_They had been crossing the street, him and Lee, and two seconds before the car had collided with his body, Deuce had caught the brief glance of Mac behind the wheel._

_Deuce found out later that Nate, who had been watching from the football field, and done the CPR that had saved Deuce's life. It was funny, in that what-goes-around-comes-around sort of way, because it had been Deuce who had taught Nate CPR in the first place. _

_He also found out that exactly one day later, Mac was found dead in an alleyway in the middle of town beaten to death. _

_The sheriff, who Deuce found out served with Pete in the War, ruled the death as a random mugging._

_No one was ever charged with the crime._

* * *

When they told Deuce, a couple days after he had been weaned off the heavy narcotics, Deuce could never remember crying so much.

Pete told him quietly and as simply as possible.

The car would have killed him, Pete said in the wee hours of the morning when the sun still hadn't shown its face and Brooke and the kids were at the hotel sleeping.

The car should have killed him, Pete said before crying softly, but it hadn't.

Because Lee had jumped in-between Deuce and the car, taking most of the impact.

Lee had died the same way he had lived his whole life.

Right beside his master.

* * *

_In the hospital, when it was quiet and dark and Deuce didn't have to worry about hiding his pain from everyone he loved, Deuce wondered what would have happened if he had never met Pete._

_Or Mac, or TJ or Brooke._

_He wondered if he would have kept moving along. He wondered if he would have ended up dead somewhere in an alley like Mac, or if he would have found a place to run like Pete had done._

_He wondered if Lee would still be alive._

_But most of all, Deuce wondered if he really had left someone behind and if they were wondering about him too._

* * *

Deuce's back was broken in two places.

Most of the blood that had been on him however, had been Lee's.

Lee hadn't died on impact though.

Lee had crawled the couple feet it took to get back to Deuce's side.

When Deuce's heart stopped and Nate had to do CPR, the red headed boy had had to lift the large dog off Deuce's chest to start compressions.

When Deuce talked to him a few weeks after the day, Nate swore that Lee hadn't breathed his last until Deuce had started breathing again.

After Nate told his Pops that, no one bothered them during the ten minutes both of them cried.

* * *

_When Deuce was released to go home from the hospital in Dallas, everyone had been there to pick him up._

_Lisa drove the SUV . _

_Deuce asked on the way home why Brooke wasn't driving._

_If he had learned one thing in his time as a husband, it was that Brooke preferred to drive._

"_Well," Brooke said as she held his hand in the backseat of the SUV. Nate, Jake and Max were crammed into the far backseat, arguing over which movie to watch on the way home, and TJ was arguing with Pete who was grumbling about sitting in the back seat._

"_I didn't want to take any chances," Brooke said quietly before leaning over to kiss Deuce on the lips, "The doctor said not to do anything strenuous for the baby's sake."_

"_The-" Deuce's mouth fell opened and the rest of the family, who must have known, starting laughing at the look of utter shock that was no doubt on his face._

"_Surprise," Brooke whispered before kissing Deuce again._

* * *

"Tony?"

Brooke padded into Deuce's room quietly.

Deuce was sitting in his wheelchair, his back still supported by his brace. The accident had damaged the nerves in Deuce's lower back, causing severe muscle weakness in his legs. Deuce would have to relearn to walk again- if he ever did walk again.

"Tony?" Brooke asked again, placing her hand gently on Deuce's shoulder.

Deuce opened his eyes slowly. The pain medication he took when his back pain flared up made him extremely drowsy.

"Let's just lay down honey," Brooke gently pushed Deuce away from his desk and towards their bed. Deuce had a special pillow to support his back until it was healed.

Locking the wheels to Deuce's wheelchair, Brooke patted her husband's arm gently before calling for Nate. Deuce was being treated as an outpatient at the rehab hospital in town but he was a long way from being healed.

Deuce grimaced and bit his lip to keep from crying out as Nate helped maneuver his Pop onto the bed.

"Thanks kid," Deuce squeezed Nate's shoulder before sighing as the pain slowly ebbed away.

"No problem," Nate said and stepped aside as Max got up on the bed carefully, wedging himself against his Daddy before hugging him as hard as he could.

Jake was next and he smiled at seeing Deuce and gave his Dadda kisses before saying bye-bye and toddling out of the room after Max who was getting ready for bed.

"Love you Pops," Nate said, the last of the three red headed boys to leave.

"Love you too Nate," Deuce grabbed for Nate's hand, not wanting to be alone. Feeling Brooke take his other hand, Deuce decided that maybe, he didn't have to be Deuce anymore.

That maybe, it was safe to be Tony again.

* * *

_Names. _

_Names would always be important to him. _

_He probably thought about names as much as he thought about anything else._

_Because he had so many different names._

_He had been called Worthless. Drunk. Lazy. Crazy. Stupid. Weak. Strong. Dead. Hurt. Cripple._

_Names that he would probably always remember._

_But he had been called others too. Some that held meaning only to him._

_Tony. Deuce. Coach._

_But he had searched far and wide and he decided that after four years of not knowing who he was and where he had come from, he found that out of all his names, the ones he liked the most were the two that he would be called for the rest of his life, no matter where he had come from of where he was going._

_Husband. _

_And Pops._

_Tony had been saved after all._

_He had all he had ever wanted right in front of him._


End file.
